Geovanny Salinas enters his sixth season as men’s soccer goalkeeping coach and fourth assisting with the women’s team. His impact was felt in his first season with the men’s team in 2016 with national rankings coming to both the team and starting goaltender, Justin Niswonger, after heading to nationals and winning its first-ever NCAA Tournament game.
During the 2021 season, Salinas' goalkeeper contingent combined across the men's and women's team to record 16 shutouts -- eight from the men and eight from the women. On the men's side, Brady Frydl earned OAC Defensive Player of the Week honors after a six-save shutout at Baldwin Wallace. For the women, Salinas mentored Lauren White to All-OAC second team honors after she was a 2020 honorable mention accolade as well. White finished the season with 80 saves, a 0.91 GAA, and eight shutouts.
The 2017 season was a banner year for Capital and their goaltending. The team won 13 games, five in the OAC, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in program history. Capital defeated Dominican University (Ill.) in the first round of the tournament, 2-1, in double-overtime. Starting goalkeeper Justin Niswonger shined in his senior season, earning OAC Goalkeeper of the Year. Niswonger also earned a spot on the All-OAC First Team, the NSCAA All-Great Lakes Region Third Team and was named an NSCAA Scholar All-American.
Since that season, CU made a return trip to the national tournament with a new starting goaltender, and again, won its first round contest.
In 2016, Capital accumulated a 14-4-2 overall record and spent time in two sets of national rankings, in large part due to its strong goaltender play. Cap also posted the longest winning (10) and unbeaten (14) streaks in recorded program history. In this season, Niswonger excelled and spent multiple weeks ranked No. 1 in the country in save percentage and goals-against average. Niswonger went on to be named Second Team All-OAC and All-Ohio following the season.
On the women’s side, Kelly Bachmann has earned Honorable Mention All-OAC honors in back-to-back seasons (2018, 2019). In her first season as a starter in 2018, Bachmann posted a 9-5-0 record with five shutouts, a 0.99 goals-against average, and .815 save percentage. As a junior the following year, Bachmann equaled her GAA from the previous season but held a 12-4-0 record to help Cap to a 14-win season. In those two seasons, CU had a combined overall record of 27-12-0 and a 13-5-0 OAC ledger.
Salinas’ coaching career began in Union, N.J. where he was brought on to be the goalkeeper coach at Kean University. After coaching at Kean for one year, he took a goalkeeping coaching position for the New Jersey Imperials of the American League. Over the course of a few years, Salinas coached for the Montclair Soccer Club, Cougars United Soccer Club, and Metro Stars Soccer Academy.
He has spent the past decade gaining experience by coaching youth and high school soccer, and hosts a variety of camps to help groom the next crop of stellar goaltenders.
